Historical Chart The Celts

Historical Chart

The Celts

The Romans

The Anglo-Jutes

The Vikings

The Norman Conquest

England and Wales

The Acts of Union

Queen Victoria

The Celts

•The Celts a group of people whose influence spread to Britain and Ireland from Austria and Switzerland in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age.

•Celtic society was organized in tribes, each of which had a king or chief and was then divided into warriors and noblemen, druids (learned people) such as doctors, priests and craftsmen, and ordinary people.

•Different forms of the Celtic language developed including Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland, and the Welsh and Cornish languages which are similar to Breton, the Celtic language of north-west France.

•Celtic culture became established in Britain and continued during the Roman occupation. In the south and east it combined with Roman culture, but remained separate in Scotland, Ireland and parts of Wales and south-west England. 

Definition of Culture

Culture (Latin: cultura, lit. "cultivation") is a modern concept based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator Cicero: "cultura animi" (cultivation of the soul). This non-agricultural use of the term "culture" re-appeared in modern Europe in the 17th century referring to the betterment or refinement of individuals, especially through education. During the 18th and 19th century it came to refer more frequently to the common reference points of whole peoples, and discussion of the term was often connected to national aspirations or ideals. Some scientists such as Edward Tylor used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity.

In the 20th century, "culture" emerged as a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be directly attributed to genetic inheritance. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings:

the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and the distinct ways that people, who live differently, classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively.Hoebel describes culture as an integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not a result of biological inheritance.

Distinctions are currently made between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called material culture, and everything else,the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that are the main referent of the term "culture"